Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of communication networks and, more particularly, to implementing flexible transmission and back-off intervals in a network device.
Wireless local area network (WLAN) devices typically use medium contention protocols (e.g., carrier sense multiple access and collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocols) to regulate access to a shared WLAN communication medium. For example, the contention protocols can enable each WLAN device to determine whether to transmit on the WLAN communication medium and how to avoid collisions with other transmissions. In accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication protocols, a WLAN device attempting to transmit data can initiate a random back-off interval prior to transmitting the data. The WLAN device can defer transmitting the data until after the random back-off interval elapses.